Community Stroke Team

Our Service

To provide a multidisciplinary stroke rehabilitation service which has quality and equity at its heart and driven by highly skilled clinicians who feel valued and empowered to make a positive change in the quality of life of our Northamptonshire stroke survivors.

Northamptonshire Community Stroke Team (CST) is a regionally and nationally acclaimed service with an excellent delivery record and patient feedback. CQC stated NGH had a “world class stroke service”.

Our aim is to provide a community stroke rehabilitation service following a recent stroke. We are a multi-disciplinary team that provides short term therapeutic input rather than a care service.

Referrals are made following a diagnosed stroke directly to the Community Stroke Team from a ward or the Stroke Consultant.

Following a referral to the Community Stroke Team, we aim to offer an initial assessment within 2 days. This assessment allows us to identify if there are goals that we can work towards within the patients rehabilitation. These assessments are completed in a home environment and determine which therapists would be most appropriate to aid in reaching the goals discussed. If accepted, we are then able to arrange further visits from relevant members of our team listed below.

Every Northamptonshire stroke survivor, regardless of whether they were seen by the Community Stroke Team will be offered a 6 Month Review to discuss their progress. This is an opportunity to pick up on additional goals and support that a patient may require. Our reviews can be carried out at a patients home, clinic or over the telephone. These reviews may take place 6-8 months following a stroke. See our 6 month review section below for more details.

Stroke Rehab Pilot

The stroke rehab pilot is developing services to improve the long-term rehabilitation for Stroke Survivors in Northamptonshire. We are working with National Health Service England & Improvement (NHSE & I) to advance the stroke pathway.

The pilot seeks to enhance the current Northamptonshire Community Stroke Team offer. The pilot will run until September 2023.

The Team

The team is made up of several professions who all work together to ensure a good quality service is provided. Click on the links below to find out more information on how each profession could assist patients through Stroke rehabilitation:

- Physiotherapists

- Occupational Therapists

- Speech and Language Therapists

- Rehab Assistant/Practitioners

- Nurses

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6 Month Reviews

A 6 Month Review (6MR/V) is a holistic review of a stroke patient 6 months post the date of stroke and should be completed by a nurse, therapist or rehabilitation practitioner specifically working in an organisation with expert knowledge of stroke. This review should be offered to every stroke survivior regardless of whether they were referred to the Community Stroke Team. For many, the full impact of a stroke is usually only realised following discharge from hospital or from formal rehabilitation. It is then that any further unmet needs can arise and patients can find it difficult to access services at this point. Reviews are carried out to ensure patients and carers receive the appropriate level of support and access to services as their needs require. There are many benefits to offering a 6MR/V including reduced GP/consultant appointments, increased understanding of stroke and secondary prevention, reduced adult services and care packages, improved joint working across agencies and a continuity of care. These 6-month reviews are goal driven and often enable patients to have a greater ability to cope and self-manage, increased independance and an improved quality of life following their stroke.

The Greater Manchester Stroke Assessment Tool (GM-SAT) is used to complete the review and this information collected and inputted onto Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) with the patients consent. This data is collected to monitor how well patients recover from their stroke.

Vacancies

We have an excellent recruitment and retention record but are always keen to have dynamic and enthusiastic staff join us. We get feedback that our staff feel valued and supported. You will benefit from a large group of highly specialised clinicians driven by improving stroke survivors’ lives.

We do have bank therapist posts available frequently so if you are interested please get in touch:

Community Stroke Team Lead - leanna.luxton@nhs.net or 01604 544275
Community Stroke Team Admin – ngh-tr.cstadmin@nhs.net or cst.ngh@nhs.net
Community Stroke Team Admin – 01604 544275

Patients & Family Experiences

Please see some direct quotes below from our anonymous Patient Satisfaction Survey:

"Excellent service. First class. The community Stroke Team have been excellent, friendly and very supportive."

"The support and expertise of the CST has been invaluable and excellent in equal measure. I speak to friends and family who are surprised and delighted at the support I have received since leaving hospital. I cannot praise your service more."

"The CST provided me with invaluable support - not just from the strength building physio and the OT that enabled me to undertake practical tasks that were a challenge at first, but from the knowledge that I had the support of a great team behind me when I needed it."

"There was 7 weeks of continuous support and encouragement. We did not mind what days the team called, we always had a timetable in advance. We cannot praise the Stroke Team enough. The care, consideration, encouragement and patience was always there no matter who visited us. Anyone who declines their help doesn't know what they are missing. Long may they continue to give this marvellous support. It was a great help to me as well as my husband who suffered the stroke."

“Dear Stroke Team, I have just received my discharge summary and would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your wonderful support and care. Without your programme of activities, I am sure my recovery would not have been so rapid. Thanks to you all once again.”

“Absolutely fantastic, couldn’t ask for better – You understand it is a family going through it not just a patient. What a wonderful team you are, a credit to the trust. It’s not until you need Community Stroke Team that you realise what a wonderful, dedicated, kind caring team you are. Everyone has been so fantastic, everyone who had been is a credit to the team. So supportive to my wife too also, we really are grateful for everything you do for us.”